5# Colouring Update

Today I have to show you all my new books that I have accumulated since my recent holiday. I knew I was going to be coming back with at least a few books, but I didn’t expect to pick up a few more since I got back. Nevertheless I am very excited to start colouring these ones as well as the last from my last colouring book haul.

Botanicum

So I will start with the books that I bought on my holiday. Botanicum is one of the two books I bought from Akademibokhandeln in Stockholm, Sweden. This is the newest colouring book by Maria Trolle and it is my favourite of Maria’s so far. The pictures have been designed with the seasons in mind and include lots of girls, cute little animals and beautiful flower and garden scenes. This book also includes the blacked out backgrounds and index of flowers, which are my favourite features of Maria’s last book/s. When I get a chance I will colour some pictures and do a flip through, but in the meantime I recommend checking out Colouring with Claire video.

Botanicum is not available in an English edition on Amazon or Book Depository yet, but I am sure it will be eventually since her books are very popular all over the world. You can buy the Swedish edition from some retailers, but if your in Australia it may be a bit more difficult with the new tax and exclusion of Australian postage or high postage price.

Smyckeskrinet

The second book I bought from Akademibokhandeln was Hanna Karlzon’s new colouring book, Smyckeskrinet. I am also a big fan of Hanna’s and this book does not disappoint. The line art is just so gorgeous and manages to stay true to Hanna’s style, whilst be quiet a bit different from her other books. It is inspired by Edwardian style, so there are lots of old fashioned jewellery, clocks, keys, vases, beautiful ladies and cute animals.

The English edition Jewelry Box, is currently available for pre-order for August, through Amazon, Book Depository and other online retailers. I could have waited but I decided to purchase it to cut down the wait time since it only cost be a couple of dollars more to buy it in Sweden. I did hold off on buying her last book, Tidevarv (Seasons), since I would save a bit more to buy and post it home. Eventually I will have to get this book too to make my collection complete. I will eventually get to colouring in this book and bring out a flip through but in the meantime check out Cindy Cink’s video.

En vindpust i Stockholm

When I visited the Royal Palace in Stockholm, I found this little colouring book from the gift shop for only 99 Krona. I wasn’t sure what was inside since it was sealed, but I was very happy when I saw what was inside. En vindpust i Stockholm is a fold out colouring book, which tells of the story of Sweden in the 17th century. You can start colouring from the Swedish countryside, to the lakes and sea and finish in the royal Swedish capital of Stockholm. On the flip side there are some of the small pictures with text, all of which is in Swedish. This book was designed by by Lotts Karlsson Olsson for Paper Me and you can buy it directly from them or TicTail.

Colouring Heaven Secret World of Animals Special

This next book I actually bought a couple of days before I left for my holiday. It is the 33 Issue of Colouring Heaven magazine, featuring Kanoko Egusa. I absolutely love Kanoko’s art, so I couldn’t wait for this issue to come out. I only have her colouring book Menuet de Bonheur (see my gallery) and would love to purchase her other book once I have coloured more of her work. I am not sure when I get to colour in these adorable animals from this magazine or my book but I doing a review of Kanoko’s colouring book is on my to do list. Apparently this particular issue is so popular that they ran out of copies, but you may be able to find it in Australia in a Big W, news agency or online.

Colouring Heaven Anime Special

At the beginning of this month I bought Colouring Heaven’s newest issue (34) released in Australia, the Anime Special. These drawings are exclusively designs by Desti from Collateral Damage. So you won’t find these drawings anywhere else. Desti doesn’t have her own colouring book and I don’t know that she has collaborated in any others. Her work is really gorgeous and inspired me to give anime a try. I am currently colouring in this book at the moment so I will do a little review and flip through soon. If your in Australia you can currently find this issue in Big W or some newsagents.

Dromenvanger

My latest book I have to show you is by Croatian artist Tomislav Tomic’s, Dromenvanger. This book is the Dutch edition of Zemji Snova and a book I have been wanting to get for a long time. I actually was meant to get it for Christmas. Marco ordered it for me from Book Depository, but with all the issues that happened I was one of the unlucky people that never received their book. It is a very difficult book to get hold of and extremely expensive to ship from independent retailers. I did find it on Ebay from the UK, so I bought it for my birthday at a good price before it sold out. Tomislav’s artwork is just so beautiful and intricate. The illustrations include fairies, dragons, mermaids, unicorns, castles in the clouds, enchanted forests, underwater scenes and much more dreamland creatures. If your interested in purchasing this book and want to see a flip through and review of the Dutch edition, check out Alena’s video.

Books I didn’t buy?

While I was on holidays I visited every book shop I could find. Many times I would be searching bookstores in google maps so I could find the closest ones wherever I was. Surprisingly to me it was actually hard to find colouring books in Norway, Sweden and Finland. Many of the book retailers no longer stocked colouring books, since apparently this fade had finished and the new thing was flow books. I was surprise because there are so many colourist from these countries, but I guess most people would just buy online. So I had intentions of buying Scandinavian colouring books that I could not buy or get posted to in my country (without selling a kidney). But alas all these amazing books I have seen on other vloggers book hauls where no where to be found.

I did find a few across my travels and mainly due to the high prices and short time to make the decision I didn’t buy them. I do have intentions to get some of these books after seeing them in person. I know that I can order them from Book Depository for a lot cheaper, so there was no point in buying on the day. So the books on my wish list from these include Outlander, Fairytales, Into the Wild and The Tattoo Flash. I also did like Manic Botanic, but would prefer to get hold of the Russian edition since I saw the Createspace publication had terrible paper. As for the others there was no way I would pay the high prices that I came across, so I was happy to let them go.

Recent colouring

Since I have so many books that I haven’t started yet I have decided to try do at least one page in each new book. So far I have done this Night Elf from Fantasia (3rd Edition) by Nicholas F. Chandrawienata. I used Prismacolor Premier pencils and a white gel pen for a couple of details. This one took me such a long time. I really wanted this picture to look like a Night Elf from World of Warcraft, so I paused many times to figure out what colour to do next. I also tried to do light layers, rather then heavy pressure to not chew through my pencils. I really love how she turned out. There are quiet a few pictures in this book that look inspired from World of Warcraft, so I am looking forward to doing those in the future.

You have collected some lovely colouring books on your travels. It is so special to have one from each place you visit. I am sure they will provide you with hours of enjoyment. Your night elf is beautiful!

Sorry.. I’m late in responding.. I was gifted a coloring book by my friend.. And I totally enjoyed coloring them.. But haven’t pursued it later.. I do like reading so that’s what i like collecting as much books as possible to read. Apart from that I collect fridge magnets when I travel to different places.. 🙂

Yes I will. I had to put most in storage box but when I finally get them out I’ll share on here. I started collecting to Europe in 2001. So majority are the same doll in different dress but they are getting harder to find now.